American Colonies: The Settling of North America

Penguin History of the United States, Book 1

By: Alan Taylor

Narrated by: Bob Souer

Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

In the first volume in the Penguin History of the United States series, edited by Eric Foner, Alan Taylor challenges the traditional story of colonial history by examining the many cultures that helped make America, from the native inhabitants from millennia past through the decades of Western colonization and conquest and across the entire continent, all the way to the Pacific coast.

Transcending the usual Anglocentric version of our colonial past, he recovers the importance of Native American tribes, African slaves, and the rival empires of France, Spain, the Netherlands, and even Russia in the colonization of North America. Moving beyond the Atlantic seaboard to examine the entire continent, American Colonies reveals a pivotal period in the global interaction of peoples, cultures, plants, animals, and microbes. In a vivid narrative, Taylor draws upon cutting-edge scholarship to create a timely picture of the colonial world characterized by an interplay of freedom and slavery, opportunity and loss.

©2001 Alan Taylor (P)2016 Tantor

Critic reviews

"[A] work of history colored by our age of diversity." ( Booklist)

good starting point for new colonialists

the book takes an annales approach to the topic, giving students a good feeling for the historiography and the cultural collision of colonization.

Thorough and Detailed

I had wanted to learn more about America in the early colonial days and this book did not disappoint. I appreciated the fact that the author showed a lot from the Native American side. Who they were, how they lived, and how colonialism impacted their way of life.
I wish I had read this a long time ago. A lot of stuff here that did not learn in history class. I will recommending this book to all my history-loving friends.

Insightful

Wonderful introduction to the complexities of the many Indian cultures and effects of the varied European and African influences in the Americas. This book paints a broad picture of the melting pot that the New World truly is.

Better to read I think.

I loved this book, but I'm likely going to return the audiobook and buy the hardcopy and "reread" it. It's encyclopedic in its scope and presentation, and therefore it's difficult to learn audibly from it. The narrator's voice is good, but the task is near impossible.

Great, if long

A nice overview of the early days of North America. It’s well written and level headed. But it’s not exactly a page turner either.

Excellent

A well balanced, highly informative narrative on early colonialism and its effects on indigenous people and the rise of American Communities.

Very informative

Very well assembled and thorough. Narrator is a bit dry, but well performed. Will be listening to more of this series.

Essential reading. Great performance.

My one regret about this book is that I didn't read it 19 years ago when it came out...or at least 4 years ago when it came out on Audiobook. There is a certain repetition, which I assume is so professors can assign chapters on different periods while still giving students context. However, these repetitions also make clear the patterns of power and domination so that after specific details fade from one's memory, the historical patterns remain.

The why behind different trajectories of colonies

It should be read twice and taught in schools. It is the old principle of supply and demand played out in so many ways amongst different groups of people. Learn what made the colonies in New England, the South, the Midwest, the Southwest and the Pacific so different in their economies, religious denominations, and governance.

A fascinating story

A comprehensive and ungloryfied overview of the roles of all the players in the European colonization of North America. An emphasis is place on the impact of the colonization on the native people of North America. A fascinating and poignant story.